The Extraterrestrial Encyclopedia: An Alphabetical Reference to All Life in the Universe

Rating:
Summary: Fine work of reference that's a pleasure to read
Review: David Darling, prolific author of a wide range of popular works on astronomy and allied subjects, has favored us with this encyclopedic take on things beyond our planet. I say "favored us" because Darling is a writer who writes with the kind of clarity that we all wish we could achieve, and is therefore a pleasure to read.

By the way, my favorite David Darling book is Zen Physics: The Science of Death, the Logic of Reincarnation (1996), which is a very readable and profound look at human consciousness, a book I cannot recommend highly enough. (See my review!)

Included here are objects and energies in space, instruments and machines for exploring space, mythological references to the heavens, historical cosmic events, catastrophes from space, ideas about space, space programs (some still only on the drawing boards), space scientists and scientists tangentially involved in some aspect of the extraterrestrial, scientists who have mentioned something otherworldly, historical figures that have mentioned something otherworldly, science fiction writers, movie and book titles about space, aspects of other sciences that could be applied to things extraterrestrial, etc., etc.

But this is not a dry reference book. On the contrary it is exciting to read and fun to flip through. Opening it at random to page 164 I find "Galileo (spacecraft)" which I learn is the "first spacecraft to conduct long-term observations of Jupiter" with Jupiter in bold face so that I know I can cross-reference it if I like. There is a little table in the entry giving the launch date, the date of arrival at Jupiter and other information about the spacecraft. Darling also uses bold-faced arrows in the text to point to related entries. Here an arrow points to "Jupiter, moons of," which has further information about the Galileo spacecraft.

The next entry is "Galton, Francis (1822-1911)" making me wonder what the old social Darwinian had to do with the extraterrestrial. Turns out he proposed in a letter to the editor of the London Times in 1892 that sunlight be reflected toward Mars to catch the attention of any possible Martians.

Next are "gamma rays" and the "gamma-ray burster" (two full-page columns worth) carrying me to the next page where there is "Ganymede," the Galilean satellite that is the largest moon in the solar system.

There are long entries on topics that Darling considers "of central importance or popular interest" such as Frank Drake's famous equation (Darling evaluates each variable) and SETI which includes a list of programs from 1960 to 1999 with information about the investigator, the location, frequency used, etc.

One senses that one of Darling's main tasks in compiling and writing this book was to decide what to include and what to leave out. How pertinent does something have to be to be included? I wasn't surprised to see paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould with an entry since his idea of punctuated equilibrium (also included) depends in part on catastrophic environmental changes, some brought about by extraterrestrial events. Nor were the entries on the elements from the periodic table surprising. (There's a very nice entry on the biological abundance of elements both here and in space.) But I was surprised to find many entries on biology and microbiology, including entries on DNA and RNA. And yet, one can see how they are relevant in thinking about extraterrestrial life.

As a side note, remember Whitley Strieber who wrote the book Communion: A True Story (1987), purporting to be an actual experience with aliens?--a book, by the way, for which he reportedly got a million dollar advance. Well, according to the entry by his name here, he confessed in 1993 that he made it all up!

There's a chronology at the back of the book identifying events under the categories, "The Search for Life in Space," "Science Fiction," and "World/Scientific Events" beginning in 580 BCE. There are also several pages devoted to Web Sites with URLs. Darling has footnoted his text with 634 references giving book titles and journals for further reading.

One final thought: In the future there will be an encyclopedia devoted to every subject and to every creature and to every person under heaven. And those encyclopedias will be on the Web (as will future editions of this book, I predict). And it will be part of our life experience to update our encyclopedia, as Darling will surely have to do with this book in a few years.

Rating:
Summary: Fine work of reference that's a pleasure to read
Review: David Darling, prolific author of a wide range of popular works on astronomy and allied subjects, has favored us with this encyclopedic take on things beyond our planet. I say "favored us" because Darling is a writer who writes with the kind of clarity that we all wish we could achieve, and is therefore a pleasure to read.

By the way, my favorite David Darling book is Zen Physics: The Science of Death, the Logic of Reincarnation (1996), which is a very readable and profound look at human consciousness, a book I cannot recommend highly enough. (See my review!)

Included here are objects and energies in space, instruments and machines for exploring space, mythological references to the heavens, historical cosmic events, catastrophes from space, ideas about space, space programs (some still only on the drawing boards), space scientists and scientists tangentially involved in some aspect of the extraterrestrial, scientists who have mentioned something otherworldly, historical figures that have mentioned something otherworldly, science fiction writers, movie and book titles about space, aspects of other sciences that could be applied to things extraterrestrial, etc., etc.

But this is not a dry reference book. On the contrary it is exciting to read and fun to flip through. Opening it at random to page 164 I find "Galileo (spacecraft)" which I learn is the "first spacecraft to conduct long-term observations of Jupiter" with Jupiter in bold face so that I know I can cross-reference it if I like. There is a little table in the entry giving the launch date, the date of arrival at Jupiter and other information about the spacecraft. Darling also uses bold-faced arrows in the text to point to related entries. Here an arrow points to "Jupiter, moons of," which has further information about the Galileo spacecraft.

The next entry is "Galton, Francis (1822-1911)" making me wonder what the old social Darwinian had to do with the extraterrestrial. Turns out he proposed in a letter to the editor of the London Times in 1892 that sunlight be reflected toward Mars to catch the attention of any possible Martians.

Next are "gamma rays" and the "gamma-ray burster" (two full-page columns worth) carrying me to the next page where there is "Ganymede," the Galilean satellite that is the largest moon in the solar system.

There are long entries on topics that Darling considers "of central importance or popular interest" such as Frank Drake's famous equation (Darling evaluates each variable) and SETI which includes a list of programs from 1960 to 1999 with information about the investigator, the location, frequency used, etc.

One senses that one of Darling's main tasks in compiling and writing this book was to decide what to include and what to leave out. How pertinent does something have to be to be included? I wasn't surprised to see paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould with an entry since his idea of punctuated equilibrium (also included) depends in part on catastrophic environmental changes, some brought about by extraterrestrial events. Nor were the entries on the elements from the periodic table surprising. (There's a very nice entry on the biological abundance of elements both here and in space.) But I was surprised to find many entries on biology and microbiology, including entries on DNA and RNA. And yet, one can see how they are relevant in thinking about extraterrestrial life.

As a side note, remember Whitley Strieber who wrote the book Communion: A True Story (1987), purporting to be an actual experience with aliens?--a book, by the way, for which he reportedly got a million dollar advance. Well, according to the entry by his name here, he confessed in 1993 that he made it all up!

There's a chronology at the back of the book identifying events under the categories, "The Search for Life in Space," "Science Fiction," and "World/Scientific Events" beginning in 580 BCE. There are also several pages devoted to Web Sites with URLs. Darling has footnoted his text with 634 references giving book titles and journals for further reading.

One final thought: In the future there will be an encyclopedia devoted to every subject and to every creature and to every person under heaven. And those encyclopedias will be on the Web (as will future editions of this book, I predict). And it will be part of our life experience to update our encyclopedia, as Darling will surely have to do with this book in a few years.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!!! Finally, a Reference Guide for ALL of Us!!!!
Review: This encyclopedia covers much more than its title suggests. You'll find subjects involving everything from religion to history to science --- and it's all related somehow to the possibility of life on other planets. This is a comprehensive work, yet I find it somewhat entertaining, too. The latest facts available regarding SETI, Area 51, the Roswell Crash of 1947, the Hubble Telescope, and too many other subjects to mention here are all presented in condensed, yet concise form in this book. The author also covers science fiction topics and theories as well as science. And it's perfect for the beginner or the trained professional. Charts, photos, illustrations, and cross references make it even more reader friendly.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!!! Finally, a Reference Guide for ALL of Us!!!!
Review: This encyclopedia covers much more than its title suggests. You'll find subjects involving everything from religion to history to science --- and it's all related somehow to the possibility of life on other planets. This is a comprehensive work, yet I find it somewhat entertaining, too. The latest facts available regarding SETI, Area 51, the Roswell Crash of 1947, the Hubble Telescope, and too many other subjects to mention here are all presented in condensed, yet concise form in this book. The author also covers science fiction topics and theories as well as science. And it's perfect for the beginner or the trained professional. Charts, photos, illustrations, and cross references make it even more reader friendly.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent reference work
Review: Thorough, clear, and occasionally whimsical, this book is an invaluable reference to keep by your side as you read about the search for extraterrestrial life and, indeed, as you read about most space topics.

Information is presented in hundreds (even thousands?) of well-written entries explaining and describing topics as diverse as the role of extraterrestrials in science fiction to Cepheid Variable stars, from laundry lists of nearby star systems to biographies of prominent scientists. The length and breadth of the information presented is truly impressive.

All information is throughly cross-referenced, with more detailed references indicated by a dark arrow.

Entries are written with an interest in the search for extraterrestrial life, but the book is a fine general reference work for amateurs interested in all space sciences.

The only complaint I have is that I wish there were more detailed illustrations for some concepts; if half stars were available, I might rate this book 4-and-a-half for this, but it deserves better than a four, in my opinion.

All in all, an extremely valuable reference, as well as a fascinating read in and of itself if you are interested in space science.